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(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet I.

H. LAGASSE 8; S. WILE. TWISTING MECHANISM.

No. 443,192. I Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

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(No Model.)

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TWISTING MECHANISM (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3. H. LAOA'SSE & S. WILE.TWISTING MECHANISM No. 443,192. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

% ENTDIBS RNE (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. LAOASSE & S. WILE. TWISTING MECHANISM.

No. 443,192. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.1

WITNESSES:

' ATTOR'N 1 k (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

H. LAGASSE & S. WILE. TWISTING MECHANISM.

No. 443,192. Patented Deb. 23,1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

HENRY LACASSE AND SOL. WILE, OF ROCHESTER, NE\V YORK, ASSIGNORS TO THEBOTTLERS SPECIALTY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TWISTING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,192, dated December23, 1890..

Application filed November 5 1889. Serial No. 329,352. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY LACASSE and SOL. WVILE, of Rochester, in thecounty of Monroe, in the State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in a 'Iwisting Mechanism, of which the following, taken ina connection with the accompanying drawings,

is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to an improved twisting mechanism, and has for itsobject the production of a simple and effective device which rapidly andeffectively twists together separate strands of wire or other material;and to this end it consists, essentially, in a revolving spindle,twisting-arms pivoted to said spindle and rotated thereby, and a slidingcollar upon the spindle connected to the said twisting-arms forapproximating their impinging faces.

It consists, furthermore, in the peculiar operating mechanism for saidtwisting device, the cutter for clipping 0d the twisted wire, and thedetail construction and arrangement of the parts, all as hereinaftermore particularly described, and pointed out in the claims.

In describing this invention reference is had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming a part of this specification in which like lettersindicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 represents a plan view of our improved twisting mechanism'asshown in operative position upon a portion of the frame of a machine forcorking bottles and wiring the corks thereto, with part of the mechanismof said machine in operative position in relation to our twistingmechanism. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the parts as shown in plan in Fig.1, with the exception that the corking and wirin g mechanism is notillustrated. Fig. 3 is an elevation, partly in section, illustratingparticularly the construction of thetwisting-arms, their position whenlooked upon the wire, and the cam for operating said arms. Fig. 4 is anelevation, part thereof being broken out, of the cutter of our twisterand its operating mechanism. Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating indetail the cutter illustrated in elevation in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is avertical sectional view taken on line 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is asectional view taken on line y 3 Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a horizontalsectional view taken on line .2 .2, Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a perspective ofthe detached lower extremity of the twisting arms or jaws, and Fig. 10is an elevation of a bottle before being operated upon by our improvedtwister.

The supporting-frame A illustrated in the drawings is that of a machinefor corking bottles and wiring the corks thereto, substantially asillustrated and described in our pending application, Serial No.819,355; but it will be understood that the supportingframe may be ofany desirable form and construction necessitated by the particular formof mechanism mounted thereupon and to which our twister is connected.

Rising from the frameA is a suitable standard B, having the extendingplate or arm B, in which is mounted the support C for the twisting armsor jaws D. This support C is preferably revoluble in a bracket B mountedon the plate B and is prevented from endwise movement by means of thehub C, having the double flanges c and c, which bear against shouldersprovided in said plate. In order to allow of the ready securing and removing of this hub, we prefer to use a cap B secured to the plate B byscrews Z) and fitting between the shoulders c c of the hub C. Thetwisting arms or jaws D are mounted in a slot or cut-out c in the hub C,and are formed with their free extremities D normally held apart, inorder that the wire or other article to be twisted may be readily placedbetween them. As best seen in Fig. 9, the ends D of the twister-arms areformed with the inward extensions or arms D provided with theinwardly-extending cu t-outD". When approximated, these arms D lie oneabove the other, and the wire is thus interposed between the inner side(.Z of the separate cut-outs Provided at the upper part of the spindle Cis the upward projection C upon which is mounted a sliding sleeve E forapproximating and separating the impinging extremities D of thetwisting-arms. This sleeve E is connected to the upper extremity of saidarms D by means of links F, pivoted thereto at f vertical position,separating the lower extremities of the twisting-arms, and when thesleeve is forced downward the links are then straightened into ahorizontal plane, as illustrated in Fig. 3. By thus straightening thesaid links F the twisting-arms have no tendency to separate when lookedupon the wire; but are firmly held in their impinging position.

Although the sleeve E maybe raised in any desirable manner, we prefer touse a yoke or lever G, pivoted'a-t g to a suitable supporting bracket G,mounted upon the plate B or other suitable support. This yoke isprovided with projecting studs or rollers g, which engage a groove f inthe sleeve E, and thus serve to raise and lower the same andallowthesleeve to revolve freely without affecting theposition of saidyoke.

Motionis preferably conveyed to the yoke Gbymeans of a lever ll, whichin our improved machine, heretoforereferred to, serves also to operatethe compressor.

Secured to the pivotal spindle of the lever Gis the arm G pivoted at gto a suitable link I, pivoted at It to the crank-arm H,

formedu-pon the pivotal pinof the swinging lever H. Pivoted to saidlever I I at 7b is a suitable link or other-connection,J,hinged at 0 jto a suit-able lever K, loosely pivoted or mounted on a spindle orshaft 1. mounted in a bracket L.

At the pivotal point j of thelever K and theli-nk J ;is thebearing-point j,w,hich preferablyeonsists of a roller, against whichbears a cam M, mounted upon a shaft m, suitably supported upon ,theframe A and preferably bythebracket L. This cam M is revolved in thedirection indicated by the arrow and forces upward the lever K, and bythe connecting-linksand levers previouslydescribed foreesldown ward thecollar E and approximates the lower extremities of the twistingarms.

As ,-illustrated, this operating mechanism is substantially the sameasthat shown in our pending application, for compressor mechanism ,andit-will be understood that in order to reduce-to a minimum the number ofparts in ourimproved m achinefor corkin g bottles and wiringthe corksthereto, of which this twisting-mechanism formsa part, we prefer toutilize the leverlfl tooperate both the compressor and thesleeve E.'Itwill, however, beunden stood that, if desired, the arm G" might beconnected directly to thelever K without the use of the rocking lever H.The operating face m of the cam M is of sufficient length to callsetheparts to remain in their described operative position until theeompletionof the twisting, after which a stud or roller m formed uponsaid cam, contacts with a face K, formed upon the lever K, and retractssaid ,lever, so that the roller j registers with acut-out m in said cam.Immediately after the impinging of the twisting arms or jaws upon thewire or other article to be twisted shafts m or k.

the spindle C is rotated, and after the com pletion of thisrotation thetwisting-jaws are separated by the retraction of the lever K, aspreviously described.

The rotating mechanism may be of suitable construction, but preferablyconsists of gearing or other power-transmitting mechanism between theshafts G and m. At the upper extremity of the sleeve 0 we provide abevelgear N, which meshes with a like gear N, mounted upon a shaft 71,supported by suitable brackets or, one of which is mounted on thesupporting-bracket B of the shaft 0 and the other upon the table A.Provided at the opposite extremity of the shaft a is a bevelgear nconnected to a like bevel gear 0, mounted upon the shaft 0.

As preferably constructed, our twisting mechanism is operatedintermittently from the continuously-revolving shaft on, whichcommunicates motion to the shaft is by the gears Iv and 7.1, secured tothe respective shafts.

Mounted on the-shaft 7c is agear 10 meshing with agear O loosely mountedon the shaft 0, to which it is intermittentlylocked by a clutch (notillustrated) operated by a suitableeam (alsonot illustrated) and mountedon either of the continuously rotating If desired, this clutch and cammight be the sameas those illustrated and described in our pendingapplication for im proved wiring mechanism, and it will be understoodthat at the time when the bottle is registered with the twistingmechanism the gear 0 is automatically locked to itsshaft and thetwisting immediately commences. After the twisting the gear 0 isunlocked and the twisting ceases.

Itwill also beunderstood that thesaid twisting device and the operatingmechanism-for locking'thetwisting-arms upon the wire are alsorel-ativelytimed witheachother, in order that when the twisting commences the armsmay be locked upon the wire and when the twisting ceases the arms may beunlocked from the wire.

In order to produce a neat and uniform finish to the wired bottles, itis desirable to outer clip off the extremities of the wire,

since it frequently happens that the projecting strands when twistedtogether are not of I-thesame length and oneor more-project above theothers. This desirable object we accomplish by means of the cuttingmechanism .1, (best illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, a-nd5,) and whichpreferablyloperates just before the completion of the twisting to severthe wire at a pointsomewhat below the twisting-jaws. The preferableconstruction of this out-off mechanism consistsof a pair of levers orplatesQ and R, hinged to each other at r and provided with cutting-jawsR, shearing past oneanother. The lever or arm Q is loosely mounted upona pivotal pin S, supportedin a journalbearing 13 of theplateB.The-oppositearm R is pivoted at R to aleverT,firmly seeured motion istransmitted to the loose lever 01'- plate Q by means of a spring r whichbears against said lever or plate and is secured to the lever T. Whenthese levers are in operative position, the spring allows the jaw of thecut-0E plate R to shear by the jaw of the loosely-mounted plate Q, aspresently described. This cut-off is normallyswung from beneath thetwisting arms or jaws and is forced into position by means of therocking or partial turning of the pin S. At the upper part of said pinis the lever U, pivoted at it to a connection it pivoted at a to a leverIV. This lever W is preferably pivoted to or loosely mounted 011 thespindle or shaft k, and is provided with the downwardly-dependingportion W, formed with the oppositelyarranged bearing faces to and 10',against which contacts a roller m provided upon the gear M mounted onthe shaft m. As this roller contacts with the upper face in, it forcesforward the upper portion of the lever W and rocks the cutter into aposition beneath the twisting arms or jaws. Just be fore thedisengagement of the face it and the roller m the cut-off levers Q, andR catch the twisted wire at the point r whereupon the forward movementof the loose lever Q is stopped by reason of a suitably-arranged stop Q,preferably consisting of a strong springbar mounted on the journal-bearing B". D uring the remaining movement of the arm IV thepivotal pin S is further rocked around, and the arm T forces forward thecutting-jaw formed upon the lever R and operates the same to shear bythe cutting-jaw formed upon the lever Q, and thus cut off the wire. Thisadditional movement of the lever B is allowed by reason of the slot rand the spring 7' ,p1'6- viously referred to, which is thus compressed,and afterward retracts said cutting-jaws to their normal position, whenthe wire is severed. Immediately after the disengagement of the roller mfrom the cam-face w the said roller contacts with the lower face to, andthe cut-off is then retracted. As previously described, there remains aslight movement of the twisting mechanism after the operation of thecut-off in order that we may positively insure the twisting of the wiresto and preferably above the point at which the cut-off operates.

In order that a fine finish may be given to the bottles, we prefer tolay or flatten the wire upon the top of the cork. This result is offected by a rounded or other suitably-shaped projection 0' upon theunderneath side of the cutting levers or knives. As preferably constructed, this projection consists of a rounded head 1' upon the commonpivotal pin of said knives. In order to bring about this result thecutter registering or operating mechanism is so timed that after thesevering of the wire said knives are given a slight forward movement,which is allowed by the yielding of the spring-stop Q and is sufficientto cause said projection r to lay the projecting wire.

The operation of our invention will be readily perceived from theforegoing, and it will be understood that a bottle wired as illustratedin Fig. 10 is supported so that the upwardly -projecting strands of wirewill be readily engaged by the twistingarms, which are then in theiropen position. The cam M then approximates said twisting -arms together,securely locking the same upon the wire, and immediately the twistingmechanism is brought into operation, thus rotating the twisting-arms andtwisting the projecting extremities of the wire. page of the rotation ofthe twisting-arms the cutter is brought into operation and trims oif thetop of the wire, and is then forced forward to lay the twistedextremities of the wire down upon the top of the cork.

It will also be understood that we do not limit our twisting mechanismto the operation upon bottles wired in the manner illustrated, since itwill be understood that it would be equally serviceable in other stylesof wiring.

As considerable change maybe made in the relative construction andarrangement of the parts of our invention without departing from thespirit thereof, we do not wish to be limited to its precise form andconstruction.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In atwister, the combination of twisting arms or jaws, a rotaryspindle for revolving said arms, gearing for revolving said spindle, anda loose collar sliding on said spindle for closing the arms upon thewire, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a twist-er, the combination of a rotary spindle, twisting-armspivotally supported on said spindle and formed with engaging jaws at oneextremity, links pivoted to the opposite extremities of said arms, and aconnection between said links movable lengthwise of said spindle,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a twister, the combination of the twisting arms or jaws, a rotaryspindle, means for revolving said spindle, a collar or sleeve sliding onsaid spindle, and links connecting said collar and arms, substantiallyas set forth.

at. In a twister, the combination of twist ing-arms having jaws at oneextremity, a rotary spindle for supporting said arms, a connect-ionbetween the oppositeextremities of said arms, mechanism for moving saidconnection lengthwise of said spindle, a cut-off Just before the stop-.

for cutting off the wire, and connected mechanism between the foregoingparts, substantially as described.

5. In a twister, the combination of, twisting arms or jaws, a rotaryspindle for supporting said arms or jaws, means for revolving saidspindle, a loose sleeve connected to said arms for closing them upon thewire, a cutoff for cutting off the wire, and connected mechanism betweenthe foregoing parts, substantially as specified.

6. In a twister, the combination of twisting-arms having grasping-jawsat one extremity, a rotary spindle for supporting said arms, aconnection between the opposite OX-.

tremities of said arms, mechanism for moving said connection lengthwiseof said spindle, a cut-off for cutting off the wire, and connectedmechanism between said twisting,- arnis and cut-off for operating thelatter after the commencement of the operation of the former,substantially as and for the purpose'set forth. g

7. In a twister, the combination of a support, a rotary spindlejournaled in said support, twisting arms or aws pivoted to said spindle,a loose collar movable lengthwise of the spindle and connected to saidarms, and a pivoted lever engaging said collar for reciprocating thesame upon saidspindle, substantially as described.

8. In a twister, the combination of a support, a rotary spindlejournaled in said support, twisting arms or jaws pivoted to saidspindle, a collar movable lengthwise of said spindle, links connectingsaid collar and arms, and mechanism, substantially as described, forforcing said links into a horizontal plane when said arms are lookedupon the wire, substantially as and-for the purpose set forth. I

9. In a twister, the combination of a support, a rotary spindlejournaled in said support, twisting arms or jaws pivoted to saidspindle, a collar sliding on the spindle, links or levers hinged to saidarms and collar, a pivoted lever engaging said collar for reciprocatingthe same upon its shaft, a cam for operating said lever, andconnections, substantially as described, between said cam' and pivotedlever, substantially as and for the purpose described.

10. In a twister, the combination of a retary spindle, twistingarms orjaws supported by said spindle, connections between said arms forlocking them upon the wire, an oscillating lever K, and connectionsbetween said lever K and former connections, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

11. In a twister, the combination of a sup port, a rotary spindlejournaled in said support,.twisting arms or jaws pivoted to saidspindle, a sleeve sliding on the spindle, links orlevers hinged to saidarms and collar, a pivoted lever engaging said collar for reciprocatingthe same upon its shaft, an oscillating lever K, connections betweensaid lever K and the lever for reciprocating said collar, and a cam foroperating thepivoted leverK, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

12. In a twister, the combination of a support, a rotary spindlejournaled in said support, arms supported by said spindle, a piv-- otedleverG for approximating and separat:

. ing said twisting-arms, connections between said lever and arms, thepivoted lever K, connections between the latter and former pivotedlevers for transmitting motion from oneto the other, an auxiliarycanrface K upon the lever K'for retracting said lever, and a cam M forforcing said lever backward and forward, substantially as set forth.

13. In a twister, the combination of twisting arms or jaws, mechanism,substantially as described, for operating said twisting arms or jaws totwist the wire, cutting-levers sliding one upon the other, cut-off jawsprovided upon said levers, mechanism for operating said cutting-jaws,and connected mechanism between said operating mechanisms, substantially as described.

lat. In atwister, the combination of twisting arms or jaws, mechanism,substantially as described, for operating said twisting arms orjaws totwist the wire,levers movable-toward each other, cutting-jaws mountedupon said levers, a sliding connection between the levers, mechanism foroperatingsaid levers, and connected mechanism between said operatingmechanisn'is, substantially as set forth.

15. In a twister, the combination of twisting arms orjaws, mechanism,substantially as described, for operating said twisting arms or jaws totwist the wire, a lever Q, loosely mounted on its pivotal pin, a leverB, having a cutting-jaw shearing by the former cuttingjaw, the lever T,fixed to said pin and hinged to the lever R, with a lost motion betweensaidlevers, and connected mechanismbetween said levers Q and R and thetwisting arms orjaws, substantially as described.

10. In atwister, the combination of twisting arms or aws, mechanism,substantially as described, for operating said twisting arms or jaws totwist the wire, a lever Q, loosely mounted on the pivotal pin and formedwitha cutting-'aw alever T, fixed to said .ivotal pin, the lever B,pivoted to the lever Q and hinged with a lost motion to the lever T, acutting-jaw provided on the lever R, the lever W, having camfaces it w,and a connection between the said pivotal-pin and the lever IV,

substantially as specified.

17. The combination of twisting arms or jaws, mechanism, substantiallyas described,

for operating said twisting-arms to twist the wire, movable cutting-jawsfor cutting off the wire, mechanism for moving the cutting-jaws towardand away from the wire, said mechanism having a further movementafter'the cutting of the wire, and connected mechanism between theforegoing parts, substantially as set forth.

18. The combination of twisting arms or jaws, mechanism for operatingsaid jaws, movable levers having cutting-jaws for cut ting the wire, ayielding connection between said levers, mechanism for moving one ofsaid levers toward and away from the twistingarms, a yielding stop S forchecking the movement of one of said arms to effect the operation of thecutting-jaws and adapted to yield after the Wire is out, and connectedmechanism between the foregoing parts, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto signed our names, in the presenceof two at testing witnesses, at Rochester, in the county of Monroe, inthe State of New York, this 10th 15 day of September, 1889.

HENRY LACASSE. SOL. WILE. Witnesses:

E. A. WEIsBURe, FRANK M. GOFF.

